Us navy nuclear power program

Because of that, women are now directly integral to the safe, reliable operation of these ships and their support organizations. Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program Headquarters provides oversight and direction for all Program elements.

Because of the highly complex nature of nuclear technology, all major technical decisions regarding design, procurement, operations, maintenance, training, and logistics are made by a Headquarters staff expert in nuclear technology. Headquarters engineers set standards and specifications for all Program work, while onsite headquarters representatives monitor the work at the laboratories, prototypes, shipyards, and prime contractors. Based on nearly six decades of engineering experience in nuclear propulsion, the headquarters organization exercises exacting control over all aspects of the Program, demanding technical excellence and discipline unparalleled among nuclear programs.

The policy of the U. Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program is to reduce personnel exposure to ionizing radiation associated with naval nuclear propulsion plants to the lowest level reasonably achievable.

In carrying out this policy, the Program has consistently maintained personnel radiation exposure standards more stringent than those in the civilian nuclear power industry or in other government nuclear programs. No civilian or military personnel in the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program have ever exceeded the federal lifetime radiation exposure limit or the federal annual limit in effect at the time.

In recent years, the average annual radiation exposure for operators has dropped to about one-tenth of the average annual exposure a member of the American public receives from natural background radiation and medical sources. These same principles are also applied to Occupational Safety, Health, and Occupational Medical programs.

Workers are provided comprehensive safety and health training, carefully engineered procedures, close supervision, and work-team backup. Inspection, oversight, and feedback mechanisms are designed to provide continual improvement. Long before protection of the environment became a prevalent endeavor, it was a high priority in the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program.

From the beginning, the Program recognized that the environmental safety of operating U. The Program maintains the same rigorous attitude toward the control of radioactivity and protection of the environment as it does toward reactor design, testing, operation, and servicing. As a result, the Program has a well-documented record showing the absence of any adverse environmental effect from the operation of U. Because of this record, these ships are welcome in over ports in more than 50 countries and dependencies, as well as in U.

Environmental releases, both airborne and waterborne, are strictly controlled. As a result, the annual releases of long-lived gamma radioactivity from all Program activities are comparable to the annual releases from a typical U. The Program has a comprehensive environmental monitoring program at each of its major installations and facilities, including nuclear-capable shipyards and the homeports of nuclear-powered ships. This monitoring program consists of analyzing water, sediment, air, and marine samples for radioactivity to verify that Program operations have not had an adverse effect on the environment.

Independent surveys conducted by the EPA and by state and local governments confirm that U. Ensuring proper environmental performance has also been a priority at Program Department of Energy facilities, which are responsible for non-nuclear as well as nuclear environmental matters.

The successful inactivation and closure of these radiological facilities demonstrates that the stringent control exercised by the Program since its inception has been successful in protecting human health and the environment. In , the Program commemorated the first-ever unrestricted release of a U.

Program personnel and contractors worked in cooperation with the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection, the EPA, the town of Windsor, and the public to complete this project. The U. It involves defueling the reactor s , inactivating the ship, removing the reactor compartment for land disposal, recycling the remainder of the vessel to the maximum extent practical, and disposing of the remaining non-recyclable materials. The spent nuclear fuel removed from nuclear-powered warships constitutes about 0.

Also, it is ruggedly designed to withstand combat conditions, and can be safely stored pending ultimate placement in a geologic repository. About Naval Reactors. With combined staffs of over 6, engineers, scientists, technicians, and support personnel, their mission is to develop the most advanced naval nuclear propulsion technology and to provide technical support for the continued safe, reliable operation of all existing naval reactors.

Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory operates prototype nuclear propulsion plants in New York for the operational testing of new designs and promising new technologies under typical operating conditions before introducing them into the fleet.

The data derived from these examinations are used to develop new technology and to improve the cost-effectiveness of existing designs. The combined efforts of the Program's research, development, and support labs have led to tremendous advances in naval reactor technology. For example, the first submarine core endurance was about 62, miles; today, submarine and aircraft carrier cores have an endurance of over 1 million miles. Naval Nuclear Laboratory. Moorer Admiral Elmo R.

Zumwalt Jr. Admiral James L. Hayward Admiral James D. Watkins Admiral Carlisle A. Trost Admiral Frank B. Boorda Admiral Jay L. Johnson Admiral Vernon E. Clark Admiral Michael G. Greenert Admiral John M.

Campa Jr. Beldo Carl M. Brashear Jesse L. Brown Samuel L. Gravely Jr. Rosemary Mariner Bernice R. Walters Nordstrom M. Elaine Toms Chancellor A. Upshur - David Henshaw - Thomas W. Gilmer John Y. Mason George Bancroft - William B. Preston - William A. Graham - John P. Kennedy - James C. Robeson - Richard W. Thompson - Nathan Goff, Jr. Whitney - Benjamin F. Tracy - Hilary A. Herbert - John D. Long - William H. Moody - Paul Morton - Charles J. Bonaparte - Victor H.

Metcalf - Truman H. Newberry - George von L. Matthews - Dan A. Kimball - Robert B. Anderson - Charles S. Thomas - Thomas S. Webb - William L. Ball - Henry L. Pirie, Jr. England Susan M. Livingstone acting Hansford T. Stackley acting Richard V. Spencer - Thomas B. Modly acting James E. McPherson acting Kenneth J.

Braithwaite Thomas W. Related Content. Document Type. Cold War. Navy Communities. File Formats. Location of Archival Materials. Author Name. Place of Event. Recipient Name.